Clothes-pin



(No Model.)

H. MERRILL.

CLOTHES PIN.

No. 505,407. Patented Sept. 19, 18931 WITNESSES. INVENTOI? aw Q A TTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

HATTIE MERRILL, OF WESTPHALIA, KANSAS. I

CLOTHES-PIN.

SIECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 505,407, dated September 19, 1893.

Applicationfiled October 27, 1892. Serial No. 450,172. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HATTIE MERRILL, of Westphalia, in the county of Anderson and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Clothes-Pins, of which the following'is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of an improved wire clothes pin designed to have an easy and full spring action adapted to pass over and securely hold heavy articles of clothing as well as light ones, and to easily pass over the same in applying it to the line and to spring back when removed without being permanently strained to an expanded position, and one which will not tear or injure the clothes.

To these ends it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts of the clothes pin made of one piece of wire as will be hereinafter fully described.

Figure 1 is a side View of my improved clothes pin, and Figs. 2 and 3 are similar views of modified forms thereof.

In the drawings Fig. 1, the wire clothes pin is formed of one piece bent into a general resemblance to the letter W. The two ends a b form the middle members of the device and lie in an approximately parallel position. The length of wire is then bent symmetrically to form the two loops a b which lie in the same plane, and then extending upwardly, are bent at the upper edges into outward coils a b one on each side, the connecting cross bar a lying at right angles across the upper ends a 19. One of these ends bis bent over the other end a, and the end a has just below the cross bar a a short bend or curve 0' to form a seat for the clothes line that holdsit firmly. Now I am aware that wire clothes pins bent into the general form of the letter W are not broadly new, and I do not claim it broadly, but the coils a b at the upper ends and the cross bar 0 lying across the ends have a very important function in giving value to the clothes pin. The coils a I) allow the lower loops of the device to have an easy initial opening movement in first adjusting the pin to the line, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the coils c. 19 furnishing the spring or elasticity for this initial movement and rendering the act of forcing the pin over the clothes on the line'easy and without any tearing or damaging strain on the clothes. Then when the pin is fixed in position on the line the extreme ends separate, and the ends a b expand or separate and hold the clothes with the elasticity that is inherent in the ends and lower loops as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. In this way the clothes pin has an easy pitching strain along the entire length of its middle members, rendering it easyand safe to quickly apply or remove the pin. The cross piece 0 lying across the ends prevents the clothes line from rising to aposition above the ends, where it would be likely to become seriously entangled, with consequent injury to the clothes.

I may make the clothes pin either with the notch c as in Fig. 1, or without it as in Fig. 2. In the latter case the ends a I) lie flat against each other. I may also bend the ends a, b ,into eyes that embrace the cross bar 0 as shown in Fig. 3, which makes a very strong pin in which the parts cannot be strained out of position.

In constructing my clothes pinI may make it of either round wire or of material that may be flat or any other shape in cross section.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The clothes pin composed of asingle piece of wire bent into the W shape with the two ends in the middle to form the loops a b and with the outer and upper portions of said loops bent outwardly to form spring coils a b and then extended continuously across the ends at right angles to prevent the rising of the clothes line between the same over said ends substantially as shown and described.

2. The clothes pin composed of a single piece of wire bent into W shape, with its two ends a b in the middle and one of them bent to form seat a, and having the outer member of its two loops a b bent outwardly at the top to form spring coils 0. b and then extended across the ends a b in the form of cross bar c substantially as shown and described.

HATTIE MERRILL.

Witnesses:

A. F. HATTEN, LOUIS ENDRES. 

